1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to an installation method for a preventive booming, using a containment boom, that floats on water. It is used to contain oil from a spill and so to prevent its spreading during the operations of a drilling platform, production platform, ship platform, Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO), monobuoy, shuttle tanker, or any other installation on open sea during 24 hours/day and 7 days/week. This preventive booming has a spiral configuration so that the transit of the service and supply boats and the ordinary functions of the platform or offshore installation are not impaired.
2. Description of Related Art
The number of incidents and the volume of oil spilled have decreased progressively in the last few years. The reduction on the number of incidents is associated with a better control and care on operations that involve oil exploration, transport, and storage, which reflects an increase of the environmental responsibility level. Nevertheless, the risk of a spill with contamination of shoreline ecosystems still remains. It is also relevant to say that the extension of the environmental damage caused by the spill is not always proportional only to the volume spilled, but it also depends on the origin of the incident, the type of the product spilled, and its specific toxicity and the magnitude and ecological sensibility of the areas impacted.
In order to define the response strategies and to dimension the necessary resources for an effective response, typically a preliminary assessment is done so that the scenario of the incident can be determined. The response permeates the containment and recovery of the product from the sea and the clean-up of the shoreline environments impacted, using the appropriate techniques.
The oil containment and its subsequent recovery require the use of many types of containment booms and different types of recovery equipment. The response capacity to oil spills permeates the quickness and the effectiveness of the activation of the team; quantity, availability, and applicability of response equipment; quantity and availability of qualified personnel for the work and the meteorological and oceanographic conditions on the incident occasion. The fast containment and recovery of the oil spilled is crucial to avoid the contamination of other areas.
The oil containment is normally done using containment booms or preventive booming that concentrate the oil for its later recovery. There are many types and models of containment booms, manufactured with different materials. The chosen type of the containment boom is related to the incident scenario, the oil type, and the environmental conditions, among other things. There are many ways to configure containment booms at sea such as “J”, “U”, or “V” format which are chosen depending on the availability of resources and the meteorological and oceanographic conditions. The containment booms can be used not only to contain the oil, but also to deflect oil slicks and protect areas. In the first case, the oil slicks are deviated to less vulnerable locals or more favorable to the use of removal techniques. In the second case, the containment booms are positioned at strategic locations in order to avoid spreading of oil slicks and to reach areas of ecological or socio-economic interest.
Most of the time, the containment of the oil is done together with the recovery, using equipments or materials such as “skimmers”, recovery barges, oleophillic ropes, vacuum trucks, and granulated absorbents, among others. Their application is related to the type of the oil; spill extension; impacted areas; access and meteorological and oceanographic conditions.
One variation of the containment boom is described in WO04035937A1. This document describes a containment boom whose main purpose is to contain oil and/or similar forms of pollution at sea, rivers or any water surfaces, comprising an elongated body constituted by an element that floats at the surrounding environment (the freeboard) and a hanging skirt. The containment boom is generally towed or anchored assuming a “U” format and holding side arms that delimit a front opening and that extend from the rear area or apex. The free ends of the containment boom arms are towed or anchored in such a way that the hanging skirt positioned on the apex collects or isolates the oil spilled and/or other types of pollution from the water surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,848 discloses a containment boom arrangement formed by the union of many arches so that they form a structurally sinuous wall. A pair of sinuous walls can be joined by an extremity to form a V shape structure, and many walls can be joined end to end to form a polygonal enclosure for oil. This wall is preferably formed by the combination of floating plastic and wood and it is constituted by the union of arches joint in alternate directions (the odd arches disposed in one direction and the even in the opposite one), independently of the desired containment boom size. The joint of two walls or the vertices of the polygon is connected to the conventional anchors to keep this compartment into a substantially fixed position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,855 describes an oil recovery for the oil removal from the water surface comprising at least 2 containment booms disposed in a “V” shape in front of a ship. The containment booms have a screw format, so that their rotations move the water and oil surface to the direction of a recovery container into the ship.
Russian patent No. RU2117095C1 refers to a containment boom that collects and keeps oil and oil products on the surface of currents and water basins. The patent focuses on contamination that is due to the leakage of oil (or oil products) from a pipeline and also due to spill of tanks. The containment boom comprises not only a floating body made of impermeable and hermetic material but also a ballast net.
WO83/00710 reveals a device that forms a containment boom for water protection against oil spills. This device comprises a tubular body, subdivided in two cameras by a longitudinal wall where its inferior longitudinal camera is filled with water, while the superior one is filled with air. The device includes ropes that are fastened in loops. The device rigidity is essentially influenced by the prevalent pressure in one of the two cameras.
The disadvantages of such containment booms or devices mentioned above are that they are thrown or put in action only after the occurrence of the oil spill, provoking a delay on the containment operations and allowing an initial oil spreading that increases the difficulty of the oil recovery.
Hence, there is a need for common or universal strategies for oil spill recovery that meet the environmental protection standards and requirements between the occurrence of the oil spill and the time response actions are taken.